Jesse's Soul (2) (6 page)

“Hmm, grandpa, well it takes one to know one, huh?” He pulled her close for another hug. “I love you, Em.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

Chapter Four

Emery had worked with each of the mechanics one on one throughout the day trying to get to know each of them and get a feel for the team as a whole. So far two impressed her, and if the others stepped up a little, they could really have a rock-solid foundation. With the parts the factory was supplying, there should be no reason they couldn’t put bikes up on the podiums. They had two lites riders who were very young, energetic and willing to learn, so that was good for the future, and a third lites rider that brought a year’s worth of experience with him. Plus, Jesse now had what he needed to get back to where he belonged. Everything seemed just about perfect, and that would thrill the average person. It only made Emery nervous.

She eyed everything and everyone around her, studying their interactions and their personalities. She zeroed in on one.

Bingo.

Emery had clued into his snarky attitude last night, but to be the bigger person, she had left him alone, hoping things would fall into place. If the young mechanic didn’t shape up, though, he’d be poison to her team. Something she would not tolerate. Emery kept a subtle eye on him and waited.

Molly walked up to the trailer again. Emery smiled at her and finished giving instructions to another one of her men on the team.

“Hey, Emery, I missed you at lunch today.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Molly.”

“That’s okay. Jesse let you get away to eat, right? I’ll kick his ass if he didn’t.”

Emery smiled, but it was forced and exhausted. “Na, he’s good. I”—she looked around at the other mechanics close by and walked closer to Molly, nodding for them to walk into the trailer for privacy—“I just needed some sleep. I’m sorry.” Grabbing a couple of waters out of the fridge, they sat across from one another on the bench seats that formed a U-shape, surrounding the small table on three sides.

“Is everything okay?” Molly rubbed Emery’s arm. “I’m here. I can help if you need something.”

“It’s okay, really, Molly. I appreciate it, though, that’s sweet.”

“I’m not going to give up, Emery. I need you around here to help me keep these boys in line. So that means I need to take care of you.”

Emery couldn’t help but grin at Molly’s smiling face and sunny disposition. She was just one of those people who one knew within minutes of meeting them that they were innately good. Something Emery knew she’d never be. She was honest with herself. She had a filthy mind, even dirtier jokes, and she was as ornery as she possibly could be. Other than being embarrassed about her medical issues, she didn’t much give a rat’s ass what anyone thought of her. Her dad would blame it on the Irish in her blood. Emery just blamed her dad. She was raised around mostly men and her last name was Kincaid. She snorted to herself—she was Molly’s polar opposite.

“What’s so funny?” Molly questioned.

“Nothing. Just thinking to myself.” Emery chuckled.

“Anyway…the wanting to take care of you part is just me. You’ll have to get used to it like the boys did. But they’re men. They didn’t fight me too hard, now they all expect it. They’
re all just a bunch of brats.” Molly nodded at Emery. “Especially my cowboy.”

Emery stuck her tongue in her cheek to try to keep from smiling. “Thank you, by the way, for the chocolate chip cookies. But you don’t have to keep baking things for him to bring me. It makes me feel guilty eating them.”

Molly swallowed and put her water bottle back down on the table in front of her. “Are you kidding? I’ll do whatever it takes to help Jesse win you over. I like you. And after the last several months of seeing him so blah, it’s good to see him smile again. He’s so freaking gorgeous when he smiles.”

She tried not to blush, not wanting Molly to pick up on the fact she agreed completely about his smile. That wasn’t the only part of him she thought was gorgeous, though. Emery pursed her lips together to contain the smirk and information. Molly did not need any more ammunition that she didn’t already have.
Emery’s thoughts on Jesse’s ass were going to remain a private piece of knowledge.

Blinking the image away, she dragged her mind back to their conversation. “Blah, huh? Why?”

“Oh, long story short. The girl he liked more than anything way back in high school tracked him down last season and came to visit and watch him race. He thought it meant something, but she just wanted to have a little
fun before she settled down with Mr. Right, as she so lovingly put it.”

“You’re kidding me? She actually said that?”

“Oh. It gets worse. She really acted like she liked him too, but her dad didn’t think Jesse was good enough because he isn’t a doctor like him or an attorney or something. You know, some sort of profession that you have to wear a suit to work every day.”

“So what did he do?”

Molly’s eyes closed as she gave a slight shake to her head. Emery could tell she was remembering the event, and with the look on her face, it had to be ugly. Concerned, her brow furrowed, and Emery pressed for more, even though the chill that ran up her spine indicated she wasn’t going to like what she heard. She may have only been on the verge of classifying what she had going with Jesse as “friends,” but she still didn’t want to think of him being hurt by another woman.

“But…if he liked her so much, why did he give up?”

“After the bitch came in, screwed with his emotions, she had the audacity to pull out—get this—a fucking engagement ring and put it back on. She was freaking engaged. That still makes him sick. He feels like he cheated on some poor guy, but he had no clue. Not once did she drop any hint that the interest she had in him wasn’t going to lead into a relationship. I’ve never in my life heard of something so downright cold and calculated. It was awful, Emery. She had been gone for a couple of hours before we knew it or I would have had no problem confronting her. We tried to get him to call the other guy. I guess he had known him from their hometown. He said he couldn’t bring himself to cause someone else to hurt like he was, plus he said from what he remembered of the guy, they were made for each other. It would have been one thing to come in, have her little bout of fun, and never return his calls again. She sunk to entirely different level of sleazy bitch when she whipped out that diamond.”

She
felt like she’d had the air knocked out of her chest. Emery continued to listen to what were probably just the highpoints in the story. She knew she and Jesse couldn’t pursue a relationship, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel compassion for him as a person and a friend. That kind of pain—she knew it intimately and would never wish it on her worst enemy, let alone a nice guy. That woman deserved a man like her ex. Emery peeled the last of the label off her bottle, then started ripping it to shreds.

“It’s just really sad to me. He never let it get to him about the stunt she pulled
, or that she shattered the image he’d held of her for so many years, but I think it really bothers him that she and her family didn’t think he was good enough. Especially when they’re from the same small town.” Molly shrugged. “He’s such a great guy.”

“But, he’s seen other women since
, right?”

Molly shook her head and tipped her water back to her lips.

“But…” Emery tilted her chin.

Molly grinned. “Why? Because he’s so damn good looking?”

“Well, yeah. It sounds a little shallow when you say it out loud, but I guess I would’ve expected him to…you know…well, have women all over him.”

“A player?” Molly asked.

With the smirk on her friend’s face, Emery could tell Molly was baiting her. She wrinkled her nose and nodded. She thought she heard someone coming close to the door. Leaning her ear that way she listened for a moment with her finger up to signal
hold on
, but they never entered, turning back to Molly, she waited.

“Nope
. Not my cowboy. He just wants...well, he just wants a girl who cares about him as much as he cares for her.”

Molly
flashed an encouraging smile in her direction, but Emery pretended not to notice.

“You’ll get to know my boys. They’re all good, good men.”

“So, can I ask you a question, Molly?”

“Sure.”

“You seem pretty attached to Jesse. Why didn’t you choose him, or were you and Carter already married when you met him?”

Molly lit up. “Nope. I actually met all the guys at the same time when I came in for my first race last year. As much as I love them all, there was just something about Carter. Like I told Jesse one time, it was just chemistry. I knew from the first time Carter smiled at me and then every time he touched me. I felt
tingles and sparks. I still do.”

Molly’s smile ran ear to ear
, and Emery couldn’t help but mirror her.

“It was love at first sight.”

“Chemistry, huh?” Emery snorted in disbelief.

That same word rang through her head, only in his voice. Not wanting to acknowledge her feelings was one thing, but she wasn’t able to hide from the truth. What she felt the times he had touched her, it was exactly what Molly had described. The tingles, the way it was hard to breathe, and how fast her stomach dropped over and over—it was real. Her pulse would race
, and it took a conscious effort to act normal. As much as she wanted to, Emery couldn’t deny the physical reactions she had to him.

It just meant she’d have to work that much harder to mask herself. He’d been hurt once already. That kind of pain was more than enough for one lifetime. After hearing what he’d been through, Emery knew there was no way in hell she’d put him through that kind of pain again.

“Love at first sight. You really think that exists?” She didn’t, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hold out hope for others.

“Yep
.” Molly nodded. “Carter proposed four weeks later.”

“Are you serious?” Emery’s jaw dropped open. “Oh my God.”

“Love at first sight, my friend.” Molly stood up. “Well, I better get, before my husband sends out a search crew for me. I just wanted to come by and say hi.”

Emery stood up and stumbled, grabbing on
to Molly.

“Emery!” She set her back down on the couch. “Are you okay?”

No, no, no, no. Damn it, no.

Emery grabbed her head with her eyes still shut and took a deep breath.

Why now? This can’t be happening, I can’t keep getting worse. I can’t have anyone seeing this shit.

“I’m fine. I just get a little lightheaded sometimes.” She breathed out the words as the pain of the headache hit.

“A little? You about passed out.”

“I’m fine, I just stood up too fast, that’s all. Really.”

“Sorry, Emery, I’m not buying that. I understand we don’t know each other very well yet, and if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. I really do understand, but I’m getting your dad. I’ll be right back.” Molly stood up.

Emery grabbed Molly’s ar
m before she could skate away. “Oh, Molly.”

She took another deep breath and opened her eyes. Reading the fear written over her friend’s face, she realized Molly was not going to accept that she was fine or leave her alone until she knew she was
taken care of. She weighed her options—baring her soul to a woman she just met or having her dad ride her ass even harder than he already was. For someone who liked to keep to herself, neither was an appealing option.

“This isn’t something that I go around telling people that I just met
...or anyone, really.”

She hoped Molly would understand how serious she was. Her heart pounded in
sync with the pain thumping in her head. Resting her elbow on the small table, her forehead in her palm, Emery closed her eyes and contemplated her position. She hadn’t exaggerated the truth in the least. Only her close family knew everything about her situation, and so far she’d been able to keep that count to seven people, not including doctors or nurses.

Technically
, eight people if she was being completely honest, but he didn’t count. Not now and not ever again.

Emery’s grip on Molly’s arm loosened as her friend stood. The clock was ticking.

Rock—hard place—her.

She went with Molly. “Can you please keep this between us?” she begged.

“I’ll try. But if you need help, I’m going to go get it.”

“It’s not like that.” She let out a defeated breath. “I…I was...”

Molly slowly lowered herself back into the seat and reached over putting her hand on top of Emery’s for support.

“I
was sick. I  had cancer.”

She hated telling people because of the devastated look that washed over their faces even when they tried not to be obvious about it. The dreaded
C
word. It had reduced the strongest woman she had ever known to tears, her poor grandmother—that day broke Emery’s heart. The memory of it still haunted her.

Having people feel sorry for her was worse, almost as bad as treating her as if she were fragile. She understood her family couldn’t help it, but she wasn’t made of freaking glass, which was exactly how her they
acted around her, especially her dad.